Cold Winter's Night
by hardrocker21
Summary: Winter has come to Royal Woods and the Loud kids are excited for the oncoming snow day. But things go from exciting to frightening as the winter weather begins to worsen and the kids are left home alone without their parents. Set four years before the show.
1. Chapter 1

**So I was gonna wait until I was a little further in with Out of Sight before I started working on this story, but the more I thought about it I just really wanted to start writing it. So I might as well start on it and work on it a bit from time to time.**

 **After I first saw Snow Bored I couldn't help but wonder what things would be like if the Loud family encountered a winter storm. I've actually spent a winter in the Great Lakes region where the show takes place and I can tell you this, they can some nasty winters up there. Not every winter is bad, but when they do they get that bad, they get REALLY bad.**

 **I'm also setting this several years before the show because if Lisa were there she'd probably just figure out a way to stop what was happening through dues ex machina. This will take place before either she or Lily are born, but everyone else will be there.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own The Loud House**

* * *

Winter time, the second most favorite season of the year for many children throughout the country, right behind summer vacation. As a child it meant days of snowball fights, snow angels, building snowmen, sledding and various other activities to fill the day with. Then one could conclude the day with a nice hot chocolate by the fire. It was especially best when school was cancelled due to the blocked roads and icy conditions.

As an adult it usually meant frustration with having to deal with the cold and having to drive on snowy and icy roads while children pelted your car with snowballs.

At a house on Franklin Avenue in the town of Royal Woods, Michigan dwelt a family of eleven, two parents and their nine children with the mother expecting another child in about six months. The rest of the family consisted of their son... and eight daughters, their ages ranging from thirteen to just eighteen months. Most people who see the family would call the parents crazy for having so many children, but the parents didn't care. They loved their children and each other regardless of what anyone else thought.

Right now, a soft snow was falling outside with icicles beginning to form on the sides of their house and every other house in the neighborhood. They were even forming on the street lamps scattered throughout the neighborhood. Even the roads were beginning to vanish beneath the blanket of soft snow. The snow plows came through every now and then, but with the snow beginning to pick up it was easily becoming a futile effort.

Inside the house right now were just the kids with the eldest child, a thirteen year old blonde girl named Lori, was in charge of her siblings and the household. Their parents had left a while earlier to get some extra groceries in case the snow got worse than what they were calling for. It was only supposed to be a few inches of snow, but knowing how the snow could get, they figured it would be best to get some extra in case they got snowed in at the house.

Right now the five eldest girls were gathered around the TV and waiting to hear the news about school closings while the young twins slept in their parents room and one was missing from the room as was usually the case, not that her older siblings ever really noticed anyway. The weatherman right now was talking about areas that were going to be impacted by the incoming snow amidst his weather advisories and how much each area was expected to get. Some areas were calling for several feet of snow and some were calling for less than a single foot.

As the kids watched however, their patience was growing increasingly thin as they didn't care about how other areas were being impacted. All they wanted to know right now is how much they were getting and whether or not they had to be in bed early tonight.

"Come on! Get to the school closings already," said a ten year old girl with light brown hair and was dressed in yellow shirt and skirt.

Another brown haired girl dressed in purple stood just to her left and looked at her with aggravation.

"Be patient Luan. We need to see how much we're getting first," the girl said.

Luan shook her head and said, "I don't care about how much we get Luna. I just want to know if we're going to have school tomorrow."

"I just hope we have enough for snowball fights. Whether we have school or not, you guys are getting it tomorrow," said the last brown haired of the group.

Everyone cast a slightly fearful (but mostly annoyed) glance at the youngest girl, the only exception being the only other blonde haired girl in the group.

"Getting what Lynn? Did you make presents for us?" she asked with enthusiasm and her eyes glowing at the last part.

Lori groaned and said, "Sure Leni. You can have Lynn's gift first."

Leni grinned in excitement as each of the girls turned their attention back to the news. Unbeknownst to them, someone was trying to jump up behind them. Every time he was finally getting close to a good luck at the TV, one of the girls would shift their position and block his view once again. So he then tried to squeeze between them, but the girls were gathered so close together he couldn't get past them.

"Come on guys! I want to see too," the small white haired boy complained.

No matter how much he complained though, none of the girls would move out of the way to let him see the TV. He still tried to push himself past each of them, but he quickly realized that his effort wasn't getting him anywhere. So he figured that if he couldn't get past them, then he should try to climb over them instead. Unfortunatly he had the bright idea to try to climb over Lori. She noticed what he was doing and quickly put a stop to that.

She threw him off of her arm and with a groan of disgust she said, "Will you get off of me twerp?"

Lincoln cried out as he stumbled backwards and then fell over, hitting the back of his head on the leg of the coffee table. He cried out again as his head connected to the leg and then clutched the back of his head as tears began forming in his eyes.

Both Luna and Leni had heard the sounds of Lincoln's head hitting the leg of the table and the both of them turned with a start as he cried out in pain. Leni couldn't help but gasp at the sight of Lincoln clutching his hurting head and Luna shot Lori a death glare.

"Lori! Was that necessary?" Luna said as Leni went over to their brother.

Leni helped him back up as Lori glared back at Luna and said, "What? The twerp had it coming when he tried to climb on top of me."

Leni brought him back over and Lincoln meekly said, "I just wanted to see what they were saying on TV."

He shrunk under Lori's gaze, but Luna pulled him away from their eldest sister and turned him away from her so that he could get a better look at the TV. Leni turned her attention back to the TV, but took a few glances at Lincoln to make sure he was okay. She had already checked him and was glad to see that he wasn't bleeding, but would probably bruise a little bit later.

"I can't believe you at times Lori," Luna said with a shake of her head before turning back to the TV.

Lori rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever. Let's just get back to the snow."

Luna rolled her eyes and draped her arms over Lincoln's shoulders, trying to comfort him. The tears had stopped, but the back of his head was still aching. At the very least he had some solace over his mission being a success as he could now see the weather report about the incoming snow. He just wished it could have been a lot less painful though.

The news was currently showing videos of the snow fall in several areas including their town, several neighboring towns, and even in downtown Detroit. One look outside could tell you that the snow was starting to come down a little harder than it had been earlier. A yellow light flashed by as another snowplow made it's way through.

"And we also have the snow banks to worry about. If you aren't careful on the roads, they can and will repossess your car in the worst way possible," the weatherman, Patchy Drizzle, said with a hearty laugh on the TV.

Luan frowned and said, "Hey! That's MY joke."

"That joke was a groaner anyway," Lynn said to Luan.

Luan looked back with an angered look and said, "And don't you forget it."

Turning back to the TV, Patchy touched something on his ear and said, "Okay I just got word that we do have some school closings in the area. Plenty as a matter of fact. We now go over to our temporary news anchor, Mr. Benjamin Lob as our main man is on vacation in Florida. Over to you Ben."

The camera switched to a younger man sitting at the news desk and he said, "Thanks Patchy. Well it looks like residents in the local communities will have a lot of free time on their hands for the next couple of days. Many schools and businesses are calling off tomorrow due to the incoming winter weather. So far all of the schools in Beaverton have called off. So have the schools in Hazeltuckey, many of the schools in the Detroit area with more expected to call off within the hour."

He continued naming off several towns, but kept passing over Royal Woods.

Lynn was about to shake the TV and she said, "C'mon! Say Royal Woods! Say Royal Woods!"

Luan was gripping her own hands tightly while Leni was about to hold her breath.

"Give us a snow day," Lori said excitedly.

"And give Lincoln his first," Luna said while clutching Lincoln tightly which filled the boy with even more eagerness.

It was true, Lincoln had never really had a snow day before. He hadn't started school until just a couple of years earlier. There had been a couple of snow days when he was in pre-school, but he had been sick with the mumps during that entire time. And last year's winter had been a dud. It had been an unseasonably warm winter and whatever snow they had gotten had been too light to really stick to the warm roads.

That's why he was now looking forward to this snowfall.

The anchorman continued and before long he was finished reading off the list of towns, but theirs had not been mentioned. The kids all groaned and looked dejected, with the exception of Lynn who looked like she was about ready to pulverize the TV. Then there was Lincoln who had a look of sorrow plastered on his face on having to miss out yet again.

"Guess there's always next time," Lincoln said sadly with Luna patting his shoulders.

Suddenly another person came into view on the news feed and handed Ben a new sheet of paper.

He looked it over and said, "This just in, we have a few more towns for the school closings list."

The kids suddenly froze and turned their attention back to the TV. Their eagerness returned as he named off several more towns one by one. It wasn't long until he reached the last town listed down. The children all held their breath as they waited.

"I have to give congratulations to the town of Royal Woods, you're the very last town on the list. You kids enjoy your snow day tomorrow," he said as he set the sheet of paper down.

If anyone were walking on the sidewalk at that moment in front of 1216 Franklin Avenue, they more than likely would have been driven deaf by the screams of delight that suddenly resonated from the house's living room. But the screams were soon replaced by the sounds of groans as the kids begin trying to dig into their ears to relieve themselves of the ringing within. Even Lincoln was doing the same as pain plastered his face.

"Okay that was a mistake," Luan said as she clutched her ears.

Lori shook her head clear and said, "That was too much even for us."

As they shook their ears clear, their faces of discomfort turned back into faces of excitement. The prospect of a snow day for them always filled them with excitement, but for at least a couple of them the prospect of their brother finally getting his chance to enjoy playing in the snow with them.

It was here that they could see headlights pulling into the driveway and this was followed by the sound of vehicle doors closing. A moment later, their parents stepped in with several papers bags filled with groceries and they shook the fresh snow off of their winter clothing.

"Hey kids. We're back," their mother, Rita, said as she took her scarf and winter hat off.

"Give us a hand with groceries, will you kids?" their father, Lynn Sr, said as he carried the bags towards the kitchen.

After their father gave the order, each of the kids groaned with the exception of Lynn who grinned widely instead, the others knowing full well as to why she was.

She looked to the rest of her siblings and as she ran out the door she said, "Bet I can carry more than the rest of you."

This just resulted in the rest of them groaning once again.

* * *

As the children celebrated their upcoming snow days, a warm and moist jet stream was meeting with colder and drier air further up north. As the two met, snow clouds formed and the resulting colder polar air was being forced into a southern direction and the snow front began working it's way down. Towards the Great Lakes region.

* * *

 **So I know this wasn't a long chapter, but this was simply an introduction chapter for what's to come. Plus I'm probably not going to make very long chapters for this story as this is just a little something I want to work on as I plan out my chapters for Out of Sight. There will be more in the next few chapters and I'll try to add in more detail into them. In fact the next couple of chapters will be more focused towards humor.**

 **As for the anchorman, Benjamin Lob, I made his name as a combination Benjamin Legrand and Jacques Lob, two men behind the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige. Pretty good graphic novel that was adapted into the movie Snowpiercer. If you haven't seen that movie, you're missing out. Give it a look.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I know there are people waiting for the next chapter of Out of Sight, which is in the works right now. For now though I do want to work on one of my smaller projects a little bit before I post the next chapter for Out of Sight, just so I can get some progress done for this one and start another story I really want to begin. So I'll stop yammering and get to the chapter to help save some time.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own The Loud House**

* * *

A couple of hours had passed by and things began to settle back to normal in the Loud household. Since the news that school would be cancelled the next day, the family had eaten their dinner and the kids had gotten ready for bed for the night. By now most of the house's residents had turned in for the night, but the sole male child of the family found himself too eager to get to sleep. The mere thought that he would finally get the chance to experience a snow day for the first time ever was too great a prospect for him to take calmly and the adrenaline he felt kept him from falling asleep.

Right now he was inside his room, which had at one time had been a linen closet, and he found himself standing on top of a wooden chair while looking out the window at the still falling snow. He did his best to try to remain still, as the chair had a weak leg and one wrong move could end up breaking it beneath him. As he watched, he could see that part of the stand for the family's mailbox was already hidden beneath the blanket of fresh fallen snow, indicating that it was at least a couple of inches deep by now. This just made him more eager for morning to come around and find out what snow days had in store for him.

His sisters had told about how much fun playing in the snow could be and every time that they told him about it, it filled him with even more excitement than the last time and just made him far more eager for his chance to enjoy the cold slush for himself. But rotten luck had gotten in the way each time and more than once, Lynn had accused him of being a bad luck charm when it came to snow due to something always preventing him going out when snow days actually came. Usually he was sure that she was just teasing him, but more often than not, he actually felt down when she would prattle on about it and not let up.

Lincoln shook his head as he recalled those memories and said, "Pfft! I'll show Lynn. I'll make this a snow day for us to remember."

As he continued to look out over the street and at Mr. Grouse's yard, he couldn't help but pity the old man. Mr. Grouse had left a few days before to spend time with his family out of state. That was too bad, because he was going to miss out on all of the fun of the snow. Then again, he always did seem like the type of person who wouldn't normally take the time to enjoy the kinds of things that kids normally would.

It was here that Lincoln was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard the sound of raised voices, like an argument, taking place just down the hall from him. He turned his attention back to his bedroom door, which he had left cracked and looked down the hall. He could see light still emanating from under Luan and Luna's bedroom door and from the sounds of things, the two of them were having another argument. All he could do was groan and wait for the fight to either come to an end or for one of them to remove themselves from the confrontation.

Until recently, both Luan and Luna had each had their own bedrooms while some of the kids shared rooms together. It worked out for them because Luan had all of her comedy props while Luna was trying out a bunch of different hobbies. But with the twins starting to get a little older, their parents decided to move the two of them in together so that they could make room for Lola and Lana. So Luan was forced to move in with the third eldest of her sisters and make Luna's dwelling more cramped than it had been before. Since then, the two had squabbled quite a bit and brought some unease to the upstairs hallway at night. Most of the siblings ignored it, believing that eventually the two of them would get over it. But it just made Lincoln more nervous than he needed to be.

Eventually there were some louder shouts as the fight got worse and then then finally silence upon their room. Lincoln figured that it meant that one of the girls was leaving the bedroom and was going to try to cool off. Lincoln went back to looking out the window and stood on his tip toes to try to get a better view. But as he did so, the chair beneath him began to creak and shake a little. Lincoln could feel the chair swaying under his feet and tried to ignore it, thinking that it was nothing. He leaned forward some and his fingers made his window crack open a little with a sudden jerk.

"Whoa!" Lincoln exclaimed at the sudden motion and tried to regain his balance as the chair shook a little bit more.

At this point, the chair's weak leg began to creak and groan some more. Lincoln let out a sigh of relief and went back to looking out. It wasn't long however when he heard the sound of his bedroom door creaking open behind him.

"Lincoln? What are you doing?" came a stern voice from behind him.

Lincoln jerked his head around and saw Luan standing in the doorway in her yellow pajamas and a slightly annoyed look on her face. The sudden movement that he had made however, caused the weak leg on Lincoln's chair to finally give way and collapse beneath him. If it weren't for his fingers still clinging to the windowsill, he would have fallen along with his chair.

"Ah! Luan help, GET ME DOWN!" Lincoln pleaded as he tried to get some footing on the wall.

Luan groaned and walked over to Lincoln as he still clung to the windowsill. She grabbed him around his waist and carefully helped him down as the boy released his grip on the window.

"Lincoln, how many times have we told you to stop standing on your cha-," Luan began, but was interrupted as Lincoln practically tackled her, wrapped his arms around her midsection and knocked her over onto the floor.

"Thank you thank you thank you Luan. I was almost a goner," Lincoln muttered as he held onto her tightly.

Luan wanted nothing more than to grab her little brother's hands and try to pry him off of her. But then again he was usually pretty rambunctious, not to mention she thought his antics right now were kind of adorable, so she just shrugged it off and let him have his hug for a moment. She even ruffled his hair a bit with her hand.

"Aww think nothing of it, but I would like to be able to stand up again," Luan said, but Lincoln continued his hold on her. Luan frowned and said, "Seriously Lincoln, let go of me so that I can stand back up."

"Oh," Lincoln muttered as looked back up at her and saw her frown.

He let go of her and even helped her back up.

"Sorry Luan," he said as she dusted herself off.

She patted her arms clear of dust and said, "It's alright. Just the next time you hug me like that, please give me a warning first."

With that, they both looked over at the busted remains of the chair that Lincoln had been standing on a minute earlier. Luan looked at the chair and then she looked back at her brother with a disapproving look on her face. Lincoln shrunk back under her gaze.

"Lincoln we've all told you how dangerous that is and that you should be more _chairful_ ," Luan said and then finished with a laugh. "Get it? But seriously though, we've told you how dangerous that is, especially Lori. Just be glad that I'm the one who found you doing this and not her. If she had seen you doing that, you'd never hear the end of it."

Lincoln looked down and knew that Luan was right. In a normal family, you'd expect the parents to give the harshest scoldings of all. But Lincoln didn't live with a normal family. Usually whenever he or any of his sisters did something bad, his parents would have their say but that was only the beginning. When it came to Lori though, she always managed to find a way to drive the point in even further given her nasty temper and relentless nature.

Like a few months earlier when she had slipped on a banana peel that Luan had accidentally left out. The tumble to the ground had left a bruise on Lori's back as a result. Sure Luan had thought it that Lori's fall had been funny initially, but the scolding she had gotten from their parents had quickly dashed those thoughts away. But it was Lori's angry tongue lashing at her that had chilled Luan to the bone. Moreover for the next couple of weeks after the incident, whenever Luan had to throw something away she would always see Lori watching her like a hawk out of the corner of her eye. Suffice it to say, Luan wouldn't be leaving any more trash out after that.

Lincoln looked down and said, "I know. I just wanted to look outside to see the snow coming down."

"Well if you wanted help looking out the window you can always get one of us to help. I can give you a boost up," she said.

Lincoln nodded and said, "Okay. Can you help me then?"

Luan nodded with a smile and walked back over to the window with him, brushing aside the remains of the chair.

"As far as mom and dad and them will know, I saw it break all of a sudden when you sat on it," Luan said and helped Lincoln up a little, grunting in the process due to her brother's weight but could handle it well enough to where it didn't overwhelm her.

Luan was tall enough to where she could peek over the window sill enough to look out. Like Lincoln, she too loved the sight of the falling snow as it accumulated on the ground.

"The snow looks pretty doesn't it Luan?" Lincoln asked her.

Luan laughed and said, "Well I hate to break it you Linc, but that's now snow falling out there."

Lincoln looked at her in confusion and asked, "It's not? Well what else could it be?"

Luan laughed and while rustling his white hair she said, "That's your dandruff you little snow top."

"Hey quit it," Lincoln blurted out loud, but laughed with her anyway.

Luan laughed with him and then took a passing glance at the clock.

She frowned and said, "It's starting to get late Linc. We should both get to bed before it gets too late and we both get in trouble."

"Aww come on Luan," Lincoln complained as Luan set him back down on the ground.

Luan turned to face him and she waved her finger at him.

"Ah ah ah, no sass Lincoln. You need to get bed so that you're not cranky in the morning. You want to be able to play in the snow don't you?" Luan asked him.

Lincoln nodded in defeat and said, "Yes. I'll go to bed."

Luan smiled in victory and said, "Good. And if you behave for the rest of the night, you can help me with snow pranks tomorrow. Wouldn't you like to be my special helper with pulling jokes on everyone?"

Lincoln nodded and as she smiled, Luan said, "Excellent, we'll prank everyone in the family, especially Luna. It'll be _snowtacular._ "

Luan added a mock evil laugh in the process to add effect and one could imagine a lightning strike taking place behind her as she laughed.

"What were you two fighting about tonight anyway?" Lincoln asked her as he slipped into bed.

Instead of giving him a full answer, Luan shook her and said, "It's nothing you need to worry about Linc, it's between Luna and me. The last thing we need is YOU getting caught up in OUR argument."

"It just scares me when you all get mad," he responded.

Luan sighed and rubbed his hair again as she said, "I can understand that, but hey once me and her cool down we'll be fine. It'll be easier with it being so cold out."

As she said that, they both quickly became aware that a cold breeze was brushing against the both of them. She clutched her own arms and shivered a bit as she realized that they had left the window partially open.

"Brr, it's cold in here," she said as she turned to the window and closed it for him. "We don't need you missing ANOTHER snow day due to sickness. Do you want your day to be _snowtacular or sicktacular?_ "

She laughed afterward and Lincoln simply groaned this time. Sometimes he could tolerate her puns and other times he couldn't.

"Besides, I'm going to need my handy helper," she said as Lincoln pulled the covers tightly over himself.

"Just get to sleep and things will be better. We'll have a day of fun tomorrow," Luan said as she prepared to leave. "And don't worry about me and Luna. We'll get over our little squabble."

Lincoln nodded and began to close his eyes. Luan couldn't help but smile as she saw him fall sleep and even made sure to turn off his light as she walked out, closing the door as well. She walked back down the hall to her and Luna's room and opened the door to see that Luna was sitting on the top bunk of their bunk bed and she was shaking her head in frustration as she crumpled up a piece of paper and tossed it aside.

"Dang it! Well I can scratch drawing off of the list," she said as she vented.

The crumpled up piece of paper landed at Luan's feet as she walked back into the room. Luna saw her and glared at in response.

"Oh, it's just you," Luna said as Luan entered the room.

Luan glared back at her and said, "We've talked about this trash thing. We have a wastebasket and the floor is not it."

"Well isn't that something, Miss Leaves Her Props All Over The Floor?" Luna retorted sarcastically.

Luan groaned and rubbed her eyes. She wanted to think of a proper response, but she was starting to feel too tired to think or even care about their stupid fight anymore. All she really wanted to do was to go to sleep before things escalated any further.

"Look can we please worry about this another time? It's getting late and I'm feeling tired," she said as she tried in vain to stifle a yawn.

Luna wanted to argue a bit more but like Luan, she too was feeling too tired to continue squabbling and would much rather get to sleep as well.

"Well that's the best idea YOU'VE had all night," Luna shot back.

Suddenly, Lori's voice rang out from across the hall and she said, "That's the best idea that BOTH of you have had all night. Now go to sleep before you keep us ALL awake with your fight."

"Too late," came Lynn's voice from next door.

"Now quit fighting or you're both grounded," came their father's voice from downstairs.

Luan and Luna were both now a bit flustered. Pretty much the rest of the household was wanting them to cease their argument and not wanting to feel the wrath of the entire household or be grounded, the two decided to end everything... for now at least.

Luan continued glaring at Luna and said, "This isn't over."

Luna glared right back at her and said, "Ditto."

Luna laid back on her bunk and Luan took the bottom bunk as well. Luan reached over to the lamp to turn off the light, and took one last glance at the bunk above her.

"Vengeance will be mine," she whispered as she turned out the light.

* * *

 **So one thing I've always wanted to write was a bonding scene with Luan and Lincoln in their younger years and I figured this would be the perfect place to do it, so I decided to do it here.**

 **I also decided to have Luna try out a bunch of different hobbies. Like Lincoln, it took quite a while for her to find the thing that makes Luna who she is and I'm glad that I'm not the only one to have thought this. And given how Lincoln has tried a number of things to find what he's best at (sometimes unwillingly), I figured that Luna probably would have done the same as well for more experimental purposes.**


End file.
